Angkor Thom | Capital City of the Khmer Empire | Angkor Wat

Angkor Thom | Capital City of the Khmer Empire | Angkor Wat

Built in the late 12th centuries by King Jayavarman VII, Angkor Thom (meaning Great City) is a quadrangle of defensive walls totaling 12 kilometers that once protected the Khmer capital of the same name, encloses an area of 9 square kilometers, and at its peak may have held a population of over 1,000,000 living in tiled or thatched houses.

Angkor Thom was built in the Bayon style, manifested itself in the large scale of the construction, in the widespread use of laterite, in the face-towers at each of the entrances to the city and in the naga-carrying giant figures which accompany each of the towers.

The significant tourist sites within the ancient City are the moat, the Walls, the Five Gates (the South Gate, the North Gate, the West Gate and the Victory Gate and Gate of the Dead on the east side), the causeways and their statues.